Ectropina Vári, 1961

Triberti, Paolo, Staude, Hermann, Sharp, Ian & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2024, Exploring the diversity of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera) in South Africa: host plants, distribution, and DNA barcoding analysis, with the description of nine new species, Zootaxa 5529 (1), pp. 1-51 : 8

Ectropina Vári, 1961

The tropical genus Ectropina consists of five known species, three of which are found in the Afrotropical region, specifically in South Africa. These species are E. citricula ( Meyrick, 1912) , E. ligata ( Meyrick, 1912) and E. sclerochitoni Vári, 1961 . The forewing pattern of these species is quite similar, featuring three pale lemon-yellow fasciae on a dark fuscous background. However, they can be easily differentiated from one another by examining the genitalia of males and females ( Vári 1961; Kumata 1979). De Prins & De Prins (2011–2023b) also include Epicephala suttoni ( Bland, 1980) from Nigeria within this genus. However, the forewing pattern and female genitalia do not seem to support this classification, but rather confirm that this species belongs to the genus Epicephala . At this time, until further data becomes available, we choose to accept Bland’s opinion (1980).